51: New Kobold King

Old Ode held supreme authority within the Kobold Tribe.

Even though the Kobolds' intelligence was currently inferior to that of a three-year-old child, under Old Ode's summons, in just five minutes, five hundred of the strongest Kobolds had gathered, each carrying a mining pick.

These Kobolds were all about 1.2 to 1.3 meters tall, hunched over like half-grown children.

Although their eyes were dull, their health looked good, and many showed strong muscles, indicating they were likely the most elite of their kind.

To accommodate them, Lu Yang built two additional carriages.

Before their departure, Old Ode walked to the Kobold at the very front, whose eyes held a bit more intelligence than the others, and used his golden claw, covered in saliva, to stamp its forehead.

He left behind a lifelike golden claw print.

“Respected guest, if you have any commands later, you can directly find Iron Hammer.”

“He is a good lad, the only one among the current tribesmen who has ever dug up a Tier 3 ore.”

“I have bestowed upon him the Light of Wisdom; as long as he continues to mine, he will become increasingly intelligent.”

As he spoke, the lean Kobold named Iron Hammer walked over and knelt before Lu Yang.

With a somewhat dull and honest voice, he rumbled, “Tier 3 Miner Iron Hammer greets the Great King. We will obey all your commands and mine all the ownerless treasures in the wilderness for you.”

Under Lu Yang's surprised gaze, Old Ode nodded.

“Respected guest, from now on, you are the new King of the Ode Tribe. They will obey your commands unconditionally, even if you order them to die, they will not hesitate.”

This was likely Old Ode's bargaining chip to persuade Lu Yang to take in the Kobolds.

However, Lu Yang felt a surge of satisfaction upon hearing this.

He hadn't expected the seemingly unintelligent Kobolds to be so sensible.

Excellent, truly excellent!!

Thinking this, Lu Yang waved his hand, immediately ordering people to bring down several large baskets of bread slices from the train, distributing one to each Kobold who was about to start working.

Then, amidst the collective gulping sounds of the other Kobolds, he had the Kobolds who had received bread board the train.

After eating, it was time to work hard!!

The several mining points Lu Yang had previously discovered were all located around the canyon cliffs.

Lu Yang was initially very curious: those mining points were not far from the Kobold Tribe, so why hadn't the Kobolds of the Ode Tribe discovered them in hundreds of years?

Logically, any accessible area should have been thoroughly explored by the Kobolds.

He posed this question to Old Ode.

The answer he received was quite unexpected.

The reason was that they hadn't discovered them.

Before this Civilization Fissure appeared, the Ode Tribe's range of activity was only three kilometers in radius.

Those newly exposed grounds had suddenly emerged from underground due to the appearance of this Civilization Fissure.

It was like deeply buried mineral deposits suddenly appearing on the surface due to changes in terrain, which is why they remained untouched.

This gave Lu Yang quite a bit of inspiration.

That's right!!

There are also many mining points underground.

He had never thought about this before, as his explorations had always focused on the surface.

In the future, he could adjust the detection direction of the resource detection radar, dedicating more power to detecting underground areas.

He estimated there would be many gains.

The train now had a Small Underground Shield Tunneling Machine, so opening up underground passages would not be difficult.

Coupled with the new blueprints unlocked after upgrading to a Tier 3 train, such as the Small Oxygen Generator, Air Filtration System, and Temperature Control System, as long as resources were sufficient, the Xinhuo Train already possessed some capability for underground survival and labor.

The Xinhuo Train first arrived at a Tier 1 Iron Mine collection point, located next to a pit.

To better calculate the Kobolds' work efficiency, Lu Yang placed only Kobolds at this mining point, then left a team of Train Police and communication equipment. After ensuring communication was clear, he left this Tier 1 Iron Mine point.

The duration of this Civilization Fissure was 72 hours, similar to the limited-time clearance dungeons in the outside world.

But it was much safer here.

So Lu Yang's initial plan was to stay here until all the surrounding mineral resources were mined clean.

Constantly fighting and being on edge was also very tiring.

Leaving the first Tier 1 Iron Mine point, Lu Yang headed directly to the only Tier 2 copper Mine collection point for the second stop.

With over a thousand passengers on the train now, full-scale mining should be enough to completely clear this copper Mine collection point in half a day.

Seizing this opportunity, and seeing that a large sum of resources would soon be in his account, Lu Yang prepared to upgrade several more vehicle components.

First and foremost was the Train Blade.

The Saw Chain Train Blade unlocked after upgrading the Train Blade to Tier 5 was very cost-effective for clearing zombies, but the Train Blade was a bit narrow, limiting its attack range.

Lu Yang spent 3500 units of Tier 1 Iron Mine and 1750 units of Tier 1 copper to upgrade the Train Blade to Tier 10 in one go.

Not only was the attack and cutting range of the front Train Blade increased to 3m, but the attack range of the side Train Blade was also increased to 1m.

More importantly, it awakened a second attack characteristic, “Gigantification,” which allowed it to temporarily expand the Train Blade's attack range by 5 times at a cost of 3 times the energy consumption.

A Gigantified Train Blade, let alone zombies, could cut even large mutated creatures like the Iron Centipede into fragments and blood foam in minutes under high-speed cutting, making it incredibly powerful in close combat.

Next up was the Repeating Ballista.

Although the Small Electromagnetic Railgun had immense power and long range, its single drawback of a long firing time meant it could not be used as a conventional weapon.

The Repeating Ballista, however, was different.

As the Xinhuo Train's current longest-range weapon after the Small Electromagnetic Railgun, it was cheap and durable.

Upgrading it to Tier 10 in one go only cost 1750 units of Tier 1 Iron Mine and 3500 units of Tier 1 wood.

After upgrading to Tier 10, the Repeating Ballista's range reached a terrifying 8 kilometers.

Without looking at the radar, it would probably be impossible to aim.

The early warning function of the Tier 3 conventional target acquisition radar was only 3 kilometers.

If the Xinhuo Train fired an arrow from afar, the enemy might not even know who shot them when attacked.

Not to mention that the Tier 10 Repeating Ballista also gained a second characteristic, ‘Rocket Acceleration’.

When nearing a target, it could suddenly double its travel speed.

Making it impossible to guard against.

After upgrading the Train Blade and the Repeating Ballista, Lu Yang found himself in a dilemma about whether to upgrade the Flintlock Rifle production line or the Kuangfeng I Light Machine Gun production line next.